of Buddha. The Buddha recommended and encouraged living beings, particularly human living beings, to be aware of their physical posture and be aware of the breathing that's going on with this physical posture. And he said that being aware of the posture you're in, being aware of your breathing, is a direct path to peace and freedom. Now we have the opportunity to be aware of our posture.

[01:19]

We had the opportunity before we equipped this room. And now that we're here, we have the opportunity to be aware of our posture again. And again. And again. and we can be aware that our posture is breathing. It might be helpful to me and you if we could be, if we could remember to be aware of our posture, to remember to be aware that we're sitting. during this morning talk. I will endeavor to be mindful that I am sitting while I'm talking to you.

[02:31]

And I will endeavor to be mindful that I'm breathing or that this body is breathing while this talk is happening. And it might help each of you to listen, if you're also listening from a mindful presence of your posture. That's three things. I'm suggesting this practice of mindfulness of your breathing posture, your posture breathing, to help you be able to receive your experience during this talk. Because when human beings speak, I am speaking, and when they hear words,

[03:42]

We tend to get spun around in the flow of words and lose our basic presence. We sometimes get caught by the words. So if you can continue to be mindful of your posture and breathes, these words may not spin you. You may be able to hear the truth of the Buddhist words. I gave the talk the last time I spoke here on Sunday. Afterwards, one of my friends said to me, it was a good talk. It's good to remember the basic. The basics. It was a little repetitive, but it was quite repetitive.

[04:55]

I went for whatever the whole length of the talk I kept talking about, observing the posture and breathing. And even today I've repeated it quite a few times. And even today, now, I'm just going to say again, that I'm Guida. I'm Guida, I'm enlightenment in a human body. When a human body and mind are awake, they are aware of the posture of the body. The enlightened awareness is aware of the body. The Buddha awareness is aware of the breathing body. All day long.

[05:58]

This is setting up a children's song, which you will hear later. If I remember. In a certain sense, it doesn't look like we're having a children's program this month. I heard that today there's going to be an annual Zen center members needed a good coach. Someone told me about that. And since I was scheduled to give the talk, they said they wondered if I could relate my talk in some ways to membership.

[07:09]

And I, just as I said that to you, I thought of a way to relate it to Sean. That we're offering a lacking grant. Your presence here, your mindfulness here, of your physical posture and breathing will be matched. And I don't know how many times it will be matched, but there will be a matching grant, a double matching grant, or an infinitely multiple matching grant. And your offering of your mindfulness will be matched by the mindfulness of the Buddhist. Your effort to be aware of your posture will be matched.

[08:23]

Will be matched. Will be granted a companion by the buddhas. I didn't know where that crap came from. And I don't know where it will go. But it's here. And that's the way I want to talk about membership today. 46 years ago, on August 20, I went to a newly opened monastery in Columbus. Monterey County, in the Los Padres National Forest.

[09:29]

I newly opened Monastery in a place called Pasajara Hot Springs. I came right at the end of the first practice period that they had in the monastery. Now I'm remembering this visit to the monastery, and now I can't really remember what I thought was the reason I was going to visit that monastery. Maybe I thought, I'm going there because a childhood friend of mine is living there, which he was. A childhood friend of mine lived in that monastery. Maybe I was going to visit my old friend.

[10:34]

Maybe I was going because I heard that it was a beautiful valley. Maybe I was going because I heard that there was a Zen master there. I don't remember what I thought the reason for going was. I went over the mountain, climbed the mountain, went down into the valley, and went into this valley where there was a monastery and there were people who were interested in practicing Zen and eating macrobiotically. And I let myself be afraid. But I didn't get to meet the Zen master, the founder of the Zen center. Suzuki Shodako Ishiro.

[11:45]

I didn't meet him. He was not in the valley. I left. And actually, I didn't like the valley because there was lots and lots of flies. I didn't really like the place, and I was happy to live. Sometime after I left, I thought, I think I'd better go live there. Where did that come from? Was it a magic grand? I made the effort of climbing over the mountain and back, and then this thing came. I think I'd like to live there. That's not a...

[12:47]

Chris said, I think I want to be a member of that community. I didn't think I wanted to be a member of the community. I just said, look, I want to go live there. If I thought, I would have realized, oh, yes, there is a community there. And you could live there. You would become a member of the community. One time I was walking years later, a few years later, five years later, I was going to Berkeley to study, to listen to teachings about the Buddha's teaching from professors at Berkeley.

[13:57]

And one of the women in the class, afterwards I walked with her, from the campus down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. And she told me about, she was from China, this student. And she told me she was having some immigration problems with US Immigration Service. I can't ask. And I said to her, I just barely hit her, I said, well, you could marry me. And I said, if you wanted to live with me or anything, I could just marry you after that, I'd help you. I didn't think, why did I say that? I don't say that to everybody that tells me that.

[14:59]

A couple years later, I married that woman. Sometimes it just pops up, you know? You can marry me, or... I think the insight will look real. I want to get my wife to practice on the Buddha way. It just pops out. Where did that come from? Where does it come from? Into our little conscious mind. It comes from a match. I propose to you, it comes from a matching grant. And that was the Green Gulch.

[16:16]

She's sitting here. I heard a story from her one time. And she was in the San Francisco Zen Center. And I don't know if she had the opportunity to open the door to the Zen Center. A man came in. And she looked at him, and she thought, I could marry him. Where did that come from? She didn't say that to every man that came to the door, or woman that came to the door, I don't think. So this man came to the door, and she said, I can marry him. And then guess what happened? That very person she married. Well, this happened to me, I guess. I didn't hear that she said, I would love at first sight, but she said, I can marry. Maybe she had a love at first sight lots of other times, but this time she said, I can marry. Is that the only time that happened?

[17:23]

I don't know. And they're still together. So there's a teaching about this, and it's called sometimes spiritual communion, or sometimes called the communion of inquiry and response, crossing of the paths of inquiry and response. the communion between intention or aspiration and response.

[18:42]

For example, a human being might aspire to realize great compassion and great wisdom. They might aspire to that. They might wish for that. They might request that. And there's a teaching which said, when you request wisdom, there's a response. When you request great compassion, there is a response. And the response of the request for great compassion and great wisdom is from great compassion and great wisdom. When you wish, when you have the wish, I wish to be in the family of the enlightened ones.

[19:48]

I wish to join the family of the great compassionate and enlightened ones. When you wish that, there's a teaching that there's a response to it. By the very thing you're wishing about, it responds to you. And there's four different aspects that are sometimes spoken of. There's infinite aspects, but there's four logical types of this spiritual community between inquiry or request and response. Four basic types. The first type

[20:50]

or one type, I can say this first, I would say one type is when the request is imperceptible or unconscious or late. And the response is imperceptible. One type of spiritual community is when we are involved in a spiritual community where we wish to meet face to face and have a relationship with great wisdom, great kindness, great light. We wish for that, but we don't know it. We don't know it consciously.

[21:54]

It doesn't appear in the consciousness where we see things appear. What we have around our consciousness is a vast ocean of awareness, which is our life. And in that vast cognitive realm, which is our life, this wish can arise. This request to meet the Buddhas can arise and the Buddhas meet it right at the same time that it happens. This is one type of spiritual communion. And you could say it is the most basic form of enlightenment. It's the way we are right now. us in a peaceful, harmonious relationship with all the liking beings and all living beings.

[22:59]

And it is a relationship we want, we are requesting, we are inquiring about. We're involved in that all right now. But it is imperceptible. It is The basic situation that Buddhists are aware of, that Buddhists are aware of, the Enlightened Ones are aware of, that they have this relationship with all beings, and all beings, something, many of all beings, their consciousness, almost all, conscious perceptions that cannot be aware of this inestimable, immeasurable world of enlightenment. But our practice lives in this basic form of spiritual communion.

[24:07]

And this is another type, and it's a type where you receive a request, or somebody might say, I want to learn, I want to pay my respects to me, like teachers of the world. Someone might consciously think that and feel that. But they might not see the response that comes. And there is a response, but they don't see it. But that very moment will just stay in an imperceptible way right on. Good work, kid. I'm here for you. But we don't hear it. We don't see it. But we do consciously notice that we suck. I want to go live there. But when I think I want to go live there, I don't hear my future teacher say, you're welcome.

[25:09]

Come on. I've been waiting for you. Another type is Well, we don't notice that we're requesting, but a response comes. We don't notice that we're asking to meet. Compassionate being or compassionate teaching comes to us. Where did that come from? I didn't ask for it. Thank you, Lord. I didn't know I asked. We're unconsciously aware that we ask. We don't receive our request. We see them come, which gives a response to our request, but we just think it's a gift.

[26:15]

We didn't say, I asked for it. This is teaching me to think, when you receive gifts, divine gifts, It isn't up in nowhere. It's because of the communion of your wish to receive this gift. Your wish doesn't make it count. It's one of the ingredients in this spiritual process. When you wish, you respond to it. Sometimes you don't see the wish and you just see the response. And the fourth type is when you actually offer, when you request, and you see a response. You consciously request something. You see, I am requesting, and somebody says, I am responding. I want to study Zen meditation with you. And the other side says, I want to study Zen meditation with you.

[27:21]

I want to meet you. I want to meet you. When I said to that person, well, you can marry me, she didn't say, let's do it. I don't even remember if she said, well, that's nice. I think she just listened to me and kept walking. When we returned home, she said, OK, let's do it. There was a point, there was a ceremony where I said, I want to do this, and she said, I want to do this. And there were a lot of tears, conscious tears, at that amazing moment of requesting this meeting and feeling that the request for the meeting was responded to. At that time, I found her at Zim Center, and I passed away.

[28:29]

And his wife, who was still alive, came to me after the ceremony, and she said, congratulations. And she said, one more congratulations. From . So there it was. I wasn't expecting it. And my deceased teacher. And he said that the spiritual community is the true experience of Zen. Zen is not, I'm sitting here by myself, I have to be mindful of my posture and the breathing.

[29:44]

That's not the true experience of Zen. The true experience of Zen is I'm aware of my posture and this awareness of my posture. When I'm aware of my posture, it is my request for spiritual communion with complete, perfect enlightenment. My conscious awareness is not completely perfect enlightenment. It's just my conscious awareness of my life. It's just my conscious awareness of a practice which I've heard is conducive to enlightenment. But that conscious practice is met either consciously or unconsciously with the thing with this great light. Later that year, 46 years ago, it was 1967, if I map, if I

[30:53]

2013 minus 46 is 1967, right? So later in that year, in December, I went back to the Zen Center. That being my realization, I wanted to live there. And I went back to Zen Center. And again, I remember walking in. from North Beach, walking up, I was walking west from California, sunny, warm, December afternoon, and I had come from Minneapolis, Minnesota, like on a Friday or a Thursday. I was a poor graduate student at the University of Minnesota, and for some reason or other, I had no money, but I bought an airplane ticket, and flew to San Francisco for the weekend.

[32:05]

Now looking back, it seems like a dream. Why would I go to San Francisco just for the weekend? Or I went to visit my girlfriend who lived in North Beach. Or I went to visit the Zen Center. Now looking back, it's just a dream. I don't know why I went. However, looking back, it was kind of amazing that I went the weekend. And I went to the Zen Center. And I went to the address of the Zen Center, 1881 Bush Street.

[33:08]

So I walked west on California, and then I went south on Octavia. And then I went west on Bush Street, and I came to 1881 Bush Street. So I followed the address of the San Francisco Zen Center where Suzuki Roshi, the teacher I wanted to come to India, supposedly lived. I was inquiring about Zen. I was making a request to practice Zen. So I flew from Minnesota on weekend to meet Zen. While I was away, I missed a graduate seminar. And my wonderful advisor, who was leading the seminar, asked where I was.

[34:11]

And for some reason, he called me this morning. I said, where is he? And one of my friends at the seminar, who, by coincidence, later became an outlet of the Zen Center. She said, oh, you went to San Francisco. Or he's in San Francisco. And my advisor said, how could he be in San Francisco? He was here yesterday. And after we were going from being in San Francisco to being in San Francisco, he was here yesterday. That's great. So there I was. walking down the street, not alive in the Zen Center. And I'm not looking. This is really amazing that here I am, coming to meet a Zen master for the weekend. I just knocked on the door, and the door opened, and I was met by an old Japanese man, probably a person in his 70s.

[35:19]

And he saw me. I don't think I said, may I come in? He just opened the door, and maybe he gestured that I could come in. And I went in to the room. And the room was full of old Japanese men. They didn't have shake hands and robes. And they were smoking cigarettes. And I don't know if someone would sit down, but anyway, I sat down in the chairs, and I watched these old Japanese men, and I didn't know very much about the game of Go, but gradually I figured out they were playing Go. At the same time. Smoking cigarettes. This was not what I was coming to meet. So after a while, I don't know, it wasn't an hour, but it wasn't too many, I said, is this the Zen Center?

[36:26]

And they said, no. The Zen Center is not sure. This is 1881 beats. So there's 1881 hate. So I walk. I walk. I'm in the seat. I knock on the door. And this time, I don't pretend to be smiling. He looked like he was about 38. I was 24, and he looked like he was about 14 years older than me. I was now meeting with Suzuki Roshi, and I heard he was about 6'3", and I thought that this Japanese person with the shades and the robes was Suzuki Roshi.

[37:38]

I was meeting the teacher I came to meet. And I thought, wow, 63 years old and he looks like he's 30. It looks like I came to the right place. The problem is that our deal is just a conversion. I don't remember what I said. But you know what I think I might have said? I might have said, I count to be a member. I've come to join this center. I want to live here. I don't think I said all that. I might have just said, I'd like to join. I'd like to be a member. And he said, oh, well, you should talk to the president. Please come in. So I went into the office right near the door, and I think this Japanese, they had a telephone call to the president of this.

[38:51]

And I sat. And he hit the office and watched him try to continue what the work he was doing before I knocked. He was writing something, but he was very tired. While he was writing, he kept falling over onto his desk. But after falling, he'd get up and try again. He was very diligent. I thought this was my future teacher, which it actually was. But then the president of Zen Center came over, and I found out that this was not . This was an assistant priest. named Kadhir Roshni, who was 38 years old. He didn't tell me the time, but he was, actually. I thought he was. He said, Kadhir Roshni, what day? I said, when I come to meditate, which was the next day. So I came back the next day. I came to practice meditation in that temple.

[39:57]

I consciously came to practice. And I consciously came to meet the teacher. And in my consciousness, I made the request to meet the teacher, and the teacher met me. But before I met the teacher face-to-face, which is what I was thinking of just now when I said my inquiry was responded to in that face-to-face meeting, after the meditation, Before that, actually, I think I saw him walk by. He walked around the room while we were meditating. I saw his feet. And just like when Linda saw this man's face, she said, I think I could be married to this person. When I saw those feet, I thought, I think these feet could be my teacher. So, there is a proposal that there is a spiritual community going on which is imperceptible.

[41:29]

Our request for enlightenment on some level, on its deepest level, is too deep and is too vast for us to pursue. It doesn't fit into our rule of conscious perception, but it's there. And there's a response to it right now. And sometimes, like in these stories, I felt consciously, I perceived the wish to be a student of a Zen teacher. And I perceived the Zen teacher to be a student. Those were two different parts of it. spiritual communion, which is actually the experience of Zen. Someone asked me recently, is spiritual communion the same as a way-seeking mind?

[42:36]

Or is spiritual communion the same as the mind of enlightenment? And I said, no, it's not. The mind of enlightenment is the mind which begins at a certain time. It arises in the world and then it's cared for, it develops into complete, perfect enlightenment. There is a mind called Bodhi mind which is used for an actual conscious state of awareness that arises in a living being. And that conscious state of awareness which we can perceive

[43:42]

If you practice with it and take care of it, it can grow into, according to the teachings, it can grow into complete, perfect, compassionate wisdom. That conscious awareness is not the same as the spiritual community that I'm talking about. However, that Bodhi mind is the seed of Buddha It arises in the spiritual community. So the spiritual community is related to the mind and enlightenment. But not the same, because there is spiritual community going on, but the mind and enlightenment is something that appears in consciousness and it sometimes is not present in the mind of some living beings.

[44:48]

Not all living beings are consciously aware that they wish to devote their life to developing great compassion and true wisdom in order to thank their all beings. Not all living beings think But some do. And those who do are very happy that they have such a great piece of thought. It is a conscious thought. And they do not make it themselves. When I first went to visit Tathagata, I did not think, I'm going to the monastery because I wish to attain Supreme perfect enlightenment in order to benefit all beings. I did not think that. I did not have that body chip. I made that note. Then somebody said, why are you going there? Well, I don't know.

[45:52]

Visit my friend. I did not have that thought. Then when I thought later, I want to go live there, I didn't make that thought happen. My conscious mind didn't make that conscious thought occur. I had a conscious thought. I want to go live in this instant. I did not, my conscious mind did not make that. Do you? Where did it come from? I'm saying it came from someone wish I had for that which I didn't know about. Needed a response to that wish which I didn't know about. Which gave rise to the wish I didn't know about. Once that thought has arisen, in the context of wanting what that thought's about. And again, this thought is only a conscious version of wanting enlightenment. We're wanting peace. We're wanting freedom.

[46:53]

But we're only seeing our conscious dream of enlightenment, our conscious dream of fusion, enlightenment. We're seeing the conscious dream we have, And that's not actually what it is, but that's our conscious being. And we really want it and we're willing to give our life for it as long as it takes to realize it. That comes from spiritual communion. And then, from then on, we have a job, a potential job. What's the job? The job is taking care of this mind, this bodhi mind. But the place we take care of it is not I am taking care of it. I wish to take care of it. We're taking care of it in the context I wish to take care of it. And the Buddhists are perceptibly or imperceptibly there saying, we're with you on that.

[48:00]

And we will support you. We cannot take care of this. This mind does not arise from me. And it does not arise from you. And it does not arise from Buddha. It arises from the communion of me and you and go to the communion in the place this thought lies. And now it has arisen. It is here in this room. Some people have this thought right now. And some of the people who have this thought and have had this thought in the past and some people who have it now have had it in the past and after they had it in the past they lost it. They forgot it. They had it and somebody was not very nice to them. And they switched from I wish to live for the welfare of all beings to I wish to harm this person who's insulting me. Once this thought arises, you can lose it. I can lose it.

[49:01]

But it can arise again from this community. From an unconscious, imperceptible way, you're asking for it, and even if you forget it, you still want it. And even if you forget it and still want it, you obey and support it and respond to it in that desire. And sometimes even if you forget it, you consciously say, I forgot it. I want it. I want to go back to that wish. And we're being helped to remember those we want to do. And sometimes we're being helped perceptively. Sometimes we forget it, and we meet a friend, and the friend says, what was it again that you were wishing for? Oh, yeah, right. Sometimes we can't remember that we wish for the welfare of all beings and wish you to be like me or to listen to that. We forget it. We still do it, but I just can't see it.

[50:07]

It's imperceptible. It was perceptible yesterday. Today, it's imperceptible. I forgot it today, but it's still there. And because it's still there, it's being responded to. And sometimes the way it's being responded to is the teacher shows up and says, hello, did you forget anything? And you say, yeah, right, thank you. People come to see me, and they make this request. but they don't know they're making, and I respond to it, and they say, I'm that. Why do I keep forgetting? And why do you tell me that? Well, I tell them because they asked me to tell them, but they didn't realize they were asking me to tell them until I told them. And I was wanting to remind them of that. So the mind of enlightenment arises in this spiritual community and then we try to take care of this mind of enlightenment and the ongoing care of it occurs within the spiritual community.

[51:20]

And sometimes we don't see that we're requesting it and we don't see that we're being responded to it. But even so, We still might be able to take care of this mind. But it's harder to take care of it if you only have an imperceptible request, an imperceptible response. It's more likely that this thought to be cared for when you actually consciously remember, oh, yes, I wish to take care of this mind. And I think. that there's other beings in this world who are supporting me. So the more we remember this, the more our conscious mind matures. And the more our conscious mind remembers, yes, I do wish to live in the community

[52:22]

of practitioners of compassion. I do wish to live in a community of practitioners of wisdom, which includes people who have forgotten that they're living in a community for the sake of wisdom, which is part of what makes it a good community, is that some people forget. So if you have a chance, remind me. It may not be possible to experience enlightenment, or I would say, it may not be possible to perceive enlightenment.

[53:32]

A conscious perception in enlightenment may not be. It may not be possible to embrace all without them. But you can't have conscious perception. It's just that it's conscious perception. But enlightenment is more conscious perception. It's our experience beyond perception. It's completely surrounded perception. But the more we remember this, the more our conscious perception doesn't necessarily say, this isn't enlightenment. That's what our conscious perception is. But what I'm dealing with is inquiring into, is requesting true enlightenment. And my request is being that right now. All my daily activities, for example, sitting and being aware of my posture, this awareness of my posture, this awareness of my breathing, is a conscious request to meet in spiritual communion with perfect enlightenment.

[54:43]

And as I am aware of this posture, this awareness of the posture is being met by complete perfect enlightenment. And more and more of my activity, which I'm consciously aware of, I'm consciously aware that it's being So my conscious life becomes more and more mature in the actual, imperceivable relationship among the with and the beings. And again, you don't know it, and you do know it. You're not consciously know it, and you're cognitively realizing it by your wholehearted wholeheartedly awareness of your posture and breathing.

[55:51]

I recommend that we be aware of our posture and breathing and I'm suggesting that if we continue that practice remembering the subtle, the mind, the subtle warning that your practice is not just what you think it is, but is being supported by innumerable Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and innumerable beings, remembering that as you do your conscious activity or mindfulness, in that environment, this conscious activity matures into what you do, matures into being free of your idea of what you're doing. why you have an idea of what you're doing, so that you can be aware of your posture and breathing. 100% completely trust yourself to this little story, understanding that this little story is being supported by the spiritual community.

[56:57]

And demonstrated by your wholeheartedness, if you understand this. the last relationship you have with all beings. So one of our ancestors said, not just pay attention to your posture and breathing, but trust everything to breathing in and breathing out. Completely trust everything to breathing in and breathing out. And if we practice this way and make our current meditation on our breathing posture as a request to be met, to get this matching grant, our awareness becomes more and more whole-hearted. Because of remembrance that we're not doing it by ourselves, we're doing it to

[58:02]

If we forget that we're doing a communion and we do it just by ourselves, we cannot be wholehearted. I'm suggesting I cannot be wholehearted if I think I'm mindful of my posture by my own power alone. I have power, you have power, but the whole heart of life is my mind power meets the total power. Total power includes mind. It's the communication that I can do, that we can do wholeheartedly, that we can trust everything to the breathing posture in, the breathing posture up. So an ancestor says, trust everything to the body breathing in, trust everything to the body breathing out, and leap into the treasury of light. In communion with all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, I may be able to trust everything within and breathing out.

[59:15]

And in this total presence of my life, there is a leaping into the treasury of Buddhist wisdom. There is a leaping and without looking back. We can be wholehearted, but not by our own power. We can be wholehearted in this situation where I want to be wholehearted and the Buddha himself has said, we support you to be wholehearted. You can be wholehearted We can't do it for you. You can be wholehearted, and you can't do it by yourself. But together, we can be wholehearted. But we have to remember that we're doing it together. We have to remember more frequently that we're doing it together.

[60:20]

Otherwise, we lose track of the context in which wholeheartedness, in which the wish to be wholeheartedness arises, and in which the wish to be what is realized. So now I think I set the stage for my children's song. I've lived to an age where I've sang children's songs to daughters. And I send children now to grandchildren. And now I have a grandchild who's about the age. I have a grandson. I have two grandsons who are not at the age anymore where I sing them songs. They have their iPods, which they find more interesting than their grandfather's songs.

[61:24]

But the little one is a little girl now who actually Listen to my songs a little bit. I don't sing her this song, but maybe I will. I'm singing me this song, which is based on one of the songs I sang her. How does it go again? Oh, it goes... Buddha's breathing in and out, in and out, in and out, Buddha's breathing in and out, all day long. The Bodhisattva leap into the light. Leap into the light. Leap into the light. The Bodhisattva leap into the light. All day long.

[62:27]

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